美国文学浪漫主义时期
专八人文辅导:你知道美国文学浪漫主义时期的起止标志吗?(2)
答案:1. B.《瑞普.凡.温克⽽》(Rip Van Winkle)是华盛顿.欧⽂短篇(Washington Irving)⼩说集《札记集》(The Sketch Book)中的⼀篇。
2. B.《睡⾕的传说》(The Legend of Sleeping Hallow)是华盛顿.欧⽂短篇(Washington Irving)⼩说集《札记集》(The Sketch Book)中的⼀篇。
3. C. 《⽪裹腿故事集》(the Leather Stocking Tales)包括5部⼩说,这五部⼩说根据发表的时间先后顺序依次为《开拓者》(The Pioneers),《最后⼀个莫西⼲⼈》(The Last of the Mohicans),《⼤草原》(The Prairie),《探路⼈》(The Pathfinder),《猎⿅⼈》(The Deerslayer)。
4. D.《⽪裹腿故事集》(the Leather Stocking Tales)包括5部⼩说,这五部⼩说根据发表的时间先后顺序依次为《开拓者》(The Pioneers),《最后⼀个莫西⼲⼈》(The Last of the Mohicans),《⼤草原》(The Prairie),《探路⼈》(The Pathfinder),《猎⿅⼈》(The Deerslayer)。
《⽕⼭⼝》(The Crater)是库柏的另⼀部⼩说。
5.B. 《丢失的信》(The Purloined Letter)是爱德加.艾伦.坡(Edgar Allan Poe)创作的侦探⼩说。
6.A. 美国⽂学的浪漫主义时期指从18世纪末到美国内战爆发这段时期,它的起⽌分别以华盛顿.欧⽂(Washington Irving)的《见闻札记》(The Sketch Book)与惠特曼(Whitman)的《草叶集》(Leaves of Grass)为标志。
7.B. 美国⽂学的浪漫主义时期指从18世纪末到美国内战爆发这段时期,它的起⽌分别以华盛顿.欧⽂(Washington Irving)的《见闻札记》(The Sketch Book)与惠特曼(Whitman)的《草叶集》(Leaves of Grass)为标志。
美国文学发展历程探究
美国文学发展历程探究美国文学的发展历程可以追溯到殖民地时期。
随着欧洲人的移民到北美,他们开始在新大陆建立自己的社会和文化,这促使了美国文学的产生和发展。
以下是美国文学的主要发展阶段。
第一阶段:殖民地时期(17世纪至18世纪)在殖民地时期,美国的文学主要受到英格兰文学的影响。
初期的文学作品多以宗教为主题,例如普林斯顿学院校长埃德温·桑德斯对美国文学的定义认为,它是“真正属于美洲的成就,而不是来自外国或短暂存在的痕迹”。
约翰·丹福斯(John Winthrop)《模範》(Model of Christian Charity)(1630年)是殖民地时期最重要的文学作品之一,强调基督教道德和殖民地社会的建立。
启蒙时期是美国文学发展的重要时期,表达了美国人民对自由、平等和理性的追求。
启蒙时期的代表作家包括本杰明·富兰克林、托马斯·潘恩和托马斯·杰斐逊等。
本杰明·富兰克林的《自传》(1750年至1790年)描述了他的成长和成功经历,被认为是美国第一部经典文学作品之一。
美国独立战争的爆发和美国宪法的制定也启发了许多启蒙时期的作品。
第三阶段:浪漫主义时期(19世纪初至中叶)浪漫主义时期是美国文学发展的高潮期,表达了个人情感和人类内心世界的追求。
浪漫主义时期的代表作家包括华盛顿·欧文、爱德加·爱伦·坡和纳撒尼尔·霍桑等。
华盛顿·欧文的《伊卡博德·克兰普》(1819年)是美国文学中最早的短篇小说之一,展示了对美国历史和传说的迷恋。
爱德加·爱伦·坡的小说和诗歌融合了恐怖、神秘和奇幻元素,对后来的美国文学产生了深远的影响。
现实主义时期强调以真实和客观的方式描写生活。
现实主义时期的代表作家包括马克·吐温、亨利·詹姆斯和斯蒂芬·克莱因等。
马克·吐温的《汤姆·索亚历险记》(1876年)和《哈克贝里·费恩历险记》(1884年)描写了美国南部社会的贫困和不公正。
美国文学重要作家作品(天河学生)
美国重要作家及作品一.美国浪漫主义时期American RomanticismWashington Irving华盛顿·欧文(1783-1859)美国著名小说家,被称为“美国文学之父”.The Sketch Book《见闻札记》1819-1820Rip Van Winkle《瑞普·凡·温可尔》The Legend of Sleepy Hollow《睡谷的传说》James Fenimore Cooper詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库珀(1789-1851)The Last of Mohicans《最后的莫希干人》1826Henry David Thoreau亨利·戴维·梭罗(1817-1862)Walden《瓦尔登湖》1854Nathaniel Hawthorne纳撒尼尔·霍桑(1804-1864)The Scarlet Letter《红字》1850Young Goodman Brown《小伙子布朗》The House of the Seven Gables《有七个尖角阁的房子》1851Herman Melville赫尔曼·麦尔维尔(1819-1891)Moby-dick《白鲸》1851Edgar Allan Poe埃德加·爱伦·坡(1809-1849)爱伦·坡,擅长写怪诞恐怖小说和侦探小说,被西方人认为是侦探小说的鼻祖。
To Helen《致海伦》-poemAnnabel Lee《安娜贝尔·李》-poemThe Raven《乌鸦》-poemThe Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍古屋的倒塌》-novel二、美国现实主义文学时期(American Realism)Mark Twain马克·吐温(1835-1910)马克·吐温的作品富有地方色彩、语言幽默。
美国浪漫主义
作为创作方法,浪漫主义在反映客 观现实上侧重从主观内心世界出发, 抒发对理想世界的热烈追求,常用 热情奔放的语言、瑰丽的想象和夸 张的手法来塑造形象。
在整体上而言,浪漫主义运动由欧 洲在18世纪晚期至19世纪初期出 现的许多艺术家、诗人、作家、音 乐家、以及政治家、哲学家等各种 人物自发组成,但至于浪漫主义的 详细特征和对于浪漫主义的定义, 一直到20世纪都仍是思想史和文 学史界争论的题材。
美国
浪漫主义
在此输入您的学校名字
American Romanticism(1820-1860)
/19英美小Hale Waihona Puke 1班/目录/contents
01
出 现 背 景
02
主 要 理 念
03
代 表 人 物 及 作 品
04
瓦 尔 登 湖
PART 01
出现背景
background
一点点
美国文学中的浪漫主义时代是指18世纪末期到南北战争爆发前期的这段时间,因 为文学的勃兴与繁荣,又称“美国文艺复兴”。是美国文学史上最重要的时期。 华盛顿.欧文的《见闻札记》 ( The Sketch Book,1820)的出版宣告了这一伟大时 代的开始 惠特曼的《草叶集》(Leaves of Grass, 1855)则标志着浪漫主义文学的高峰。 浪漫主义时期的文学是美国文学的繁荣时期
表明了作者用它来挑战他个人的、甚至是整个人类的界限。但这种挑战不是对实现自我价值的 无限希望,而是伤后复原的无限力量。
《瓦尔登湖》是超验主义经典作品,在美国文学中被公认为最受读者欢迎的非虚构作品。
句子摘录
我看到那些岁月如何奔驰,挨过了冬季,便迎来了春天。
如果把你的目光直接朝内看,就会发现,在你的思想中有一千个领 域尚未被发现。 知道自己知道什么,也知道自己不知道什么,这就是真正的知 识。
美国文学史浪漫主义时期文学
美国文学史浪漫主义时期文学摘要:浪漫主义时期是美国文学史上最重要的时期之一。
当美国人在大刀阔斧地建设自己的国家时,也开始逐渐意识到逐渐与欧洲的不同。
随着不断增强的民族主义意识及民族自豪感,美国人开始希望见到自己的不同与欧洲模式,能表达他们字的美国风情的文学。
这个时代伟大的作家充满热情地记录下这个伟大时代的乐观主义精神。
随后美国文学进入了超验主义时代。
超验主义十分强调个人主义、自立、拒绝传统权威思想。
它实际上是对浪漫主义的发展。
然后,美国的国家自信心受到了内战的动摇。
内战过后,美国处在迷茫中。
在1900年前后这段时期的文学由于美国国内环境的变化而由浪漫主义和超验主义乐观精神转向对社会和人类本质更直接的探讨。
从某种角度,现实主义反对浪漫主义的理想主义和怀旧情绪。
它主要关注中下层人民的日常生活,而在这种情况下人物性格是社会因素作用的结果,环境是整个事件发展不可分割的部分。
关键词:美国文学史;浪漫主义;文学特点The Romantic Period Literature in the history of AmericanLiteratureAbstract: Romantic Period is one of the most important periods in the history of American literature. When Americans were constructing their country, they also began to realize their differences from their European counterparts. They began to hope to see an entirely different literature model which expressed American cultures. Great writers of that period captured on their pages the enthusiasm and the optimism of that dream. Later,American literature came to Transcendentalism Period which emphasized individualism, self-reliance, and rejection of tradition authority. It was actually greatly influenced by romanticism. However, the country’s confidence was waved by the Civil War. After the war, Americans got lost. At about 1900s, American literature came to another entirely different age—the age of Realism. Realists searched for the social and human nature more directly. In part, Realism was a reaction against the Romantic emphasis on the strange, idealistic, and long-ago and far-away. It has been chiefly concerned with the commonplaces of everyday life among the middle and lower classes where character is a product of social factors and environment is the integral element in the dramatic complications.Keywords: American Literature History; Romanticism; Literary characteristics1、American RomanticismRomanticism refers to an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual’s experience of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. The romantic period of American literature stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. It was an age of westward expansion, of the increasing gravity of the slavery question, of an intensification of the spirit of embattled sectionalism in the South, and of a powerful impulse to reform in the North. In literature it was America’s first great creative period, a full flowering of the romantic impulse on American soil.1.1The unique characteristics of American RomanticismAlthough greatly influenced by their English counterparts, the American romantic writers revealed unique characteristics of their own in their works and they grew on the native lands. For examp1e,(1) the American national experience of "pioneering into the west" proved to be a rich source of material for American writers to draw upon. They celebrated America's landscape with its virgin forests, meadows, groves, endless prairies, streams.and vast oceans. The wilderness came to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral 1aw. (2) The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature. Such a desire is particularly evident in Cooper’s Leather Stocking Tales, in Thoreau's Walden and,later, in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (3) With the growth of American national consciousness, American character types speaking local dialects appeared in poetry and fiction with increasing frequency. (4)Then the American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values and American Romanticism. One of the manifestations is the fact that American romantic writers tended more to moralize than their English and European counterparts. (5) Besides, a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of origina1 sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne, Melville and a host of lesserwriters.historical reasonsWith the independence of the United States of America, political autonomy, the rise of the economy, and cultural independence, the largest land expansion in American history began during the Romantic period of the United States. As of 1860, the Civil War began, the territory of the United States extended to the western coast of the Pacific Ocean. No one could have predicted the middle of 19th century. The United States expanded from just 13 states in her early days to 21, with a nearly eightfold increase in the number of citizens from 4 million in 1790 to 1860. The total population of the country reached 30 million. At that time, the European bourgeois revolution and technological revolutionThe influence of life, this young country has experienced the rapid industrialization of baptism, the affected area in addition to the United States at each city area, including the vast rural areas. Whether industrial or agricultural development are the extensive use of the steam engine, in the vast continent of the United States, many factories such as a large number of factories set up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, the establishment of the inevitable with the demand for labor force increase, at the same time, when the United States appeared a lot of new inventions, these results quickly applied to the life, the production efficiency is greatly improved. In the romantic period, along with the rapid development of American politics, economy, culture, more and more around the worldImmigrants come to the United States, provide good human resources the arrival of immigrants to the industrial and agricultural development.epilogueThe peak period of Romanticism in American literature was the transcendentalism which appeared later.The concept of transcendentalism was first put forward by the New England Transcendentalism Club in 1830s.For the people of the New World,the idea was gradually accepted by American culture,the two most important writers were Emerson and Thoreau.They are regarded as the archetypal figures of American transcendentalism.Their works play an important role in thespiritual independence of American literature.Transcendentalism emphasizes the help of heaven to help the self-help.Strive to achieve the goal of self-improvement.Two other important writers,Hawthorne and Melvil,insisted on the original sin in the period of the moralism.They believed that only through moral constraints could human nature be promoted.reference documentation[1]Leslie A Fiedler. Love and Death in the merican Novel [M]. Harmondswort: Penguin Books, 1984.[2]Zhang Deming . Huckleberry. Adventures > and adult ceremony [J]. Journal of Zhejiang University, 1999. (4):91-97.[3]Jung .C.G.Conception of Collective unconsciousness [A] .trans by Wang Ai, selected by Ye Shuxian. Myth-archetypal criticism [C] .Xi 'an: Shaanxi normal University Press, 1987.101.[4]Bakhtin. Theory of novels [M] .translated by Bai Chunren, Xiao he .Shijiazhuang: Hebei Education Press, 1998.。
美国文学史脉络
美国文学史脉络美国文学是世界文学发展的重要组成部分,其独特的历史和文化背景使得美国文学在世界文坛上有着重要的地位。
美国文学的发展脉络承载着美国国家意识的形成和演变,同时也反映了社会和文化的变迁。
本文将以时间为线索,回顾美国文学的发展历程,并探讨不同时期的代表性作品和文学思潮。
一、殖民地时期(17世纪初-18世纪初)殖民地时期是美国文学的起源阶段。
在这一时期,早期的英国移民带来了宗教、政治和文化的影响,这种影响对后来美国文学的发展产生了深远的影响。
早期殖民地文学的主要形式是宗教文学,代表作品有威廉·布莱德福的《普利茅斯殖民地纪事》和安妮·布拉德斯特里特的《新英格兰纪实》。
二、启蒙时期(18世纪中叶-19世纪初)启蒙时期是美国文学发展的关键时期,这一时期受到了欧洲启蒙运动的影响,同时也受到了美国独立战争和建国过程的影响。
启蒙时期的作家主张人人平等、追求自由和独立,代表作品有托马斯·潘恩的《常识》和本杰明·富兰克林的《自传》。
同时,启蒙时期也涌现了一些重要的政治文学作品,如托马斯·杰斐逊的《独立宣言》和詹姆斯·麦迪逊、亚历山大·汉密尔顿、约翰·杰伊等人的《联邦党人文集》。
三、浪漫主义时期(19世纪中叶-19世纪末)浪漫主义时期是美国文学的黄金时代,这一时期的作家们主张个性主义、独立思考和自然的崇拜。
代表作家有华盛顿·欧文的《睡谷传奇》和爱默生的《自然》。
同时,浪漫主义时期也涌现了大量的诗人,如亨利·沃兹华斯·朗费罗、爱德加·爱伦·坡和怀特曼等人。
这一时期的诗歌作品表达了对自然和个人内心世界的探索,具有强烈的情感色彩和超越现实的思考。
四、现实主义时期(19世纪末-20世纪初)现实主义时期是美国文学发展的转折点,这一时期的作家开始关注社会现实问题,反映工业化和城市化对个人的冲击。
美国文学 1. Romantic
第一章美国浪漫主义时期一、美国浪漫主义时期概述Ⅰ.本章学习目的和要求通过本章学习,了解19世纪初期至中叶美国文学产生的历史、文化背景;认识该时期文学创作的基本待征、基本主张,及其对同时代和后期美国文学的影响;了解该时期主要作家的文学创作生涯、创作思想、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题思想、人物刻画、语言风格等;同时结合注释,读懂所选作品并了解其思想内容和艺术特色,培养理解和欣赏文学作品的能力。
Ⅱ.本章重点及难点:1.浪漫主义时期美国文学的特点2.主要作家的创作思想、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题结构、人物刻画、语言风格、思想意义。
3.分析讨论选读作品Ⅲ.本章考核知识点和考核要求:1.美国浪漫主义时期概述(1)."识记"内容:美国浪漫主义文学产生的社会历史及文化背景(2)."领会"内容:美国浪漫主义在文学上的表现a.欧洲浪漫主义文学的影响b.美国本土文学的崛起及其待证(3)."应用"内容:清教主义、超验主义、象征主义、自由诗等名词的解释2.美国浪漫主义时期的主要作家A.华盛顿·欧文1.一般识记:欧文的生平及创作主涯2.识记:《纽约外史》《见闻札记》3.领会:欧文的创作领域、创作思想,及其作品的艺术风格4.应用:选读《瑞普·凡·温可尔》的主题及其艺术特色B.拉尔夫·华尔多·爱默生1.一般识记:.爱默生的生平及创作生涯2.识记:爱默生的超验主义思想3.领会:(1)爱默生的散文:《论自然》《论自助》《论美国学者》等(2).爱默生与梭罗:梭罗的超验主义思想和他的《沃尔登》4.应用:《论自然》节选:爱默生的基本哲学思想及自然观C.纳撒尼尔·霍桑1.一般识记:霍桑的生平及创作主涯2.识记:霍桑的长短篇小说3.领会:(1)《红字》的主题、心理描写、象征手法和、小说结构(2)霍桑的清教主义思想及加尔文教条中的"原罪"对霍桑的影响(人性本恶的观点)(3)霍桑对浪漫主义小说的贡献4.应用:选读《小伙子布朗》的主题结构、象征手法及语言特色D.华尔特·惠特曼1.一般识记:惠特曼的生平及其创作生涯2.识记:惠特曼的民主思想3.领会:(1)惠特曼的《草叶集》的主创意图、思想感情及诗体形式、语言风格(2).惠特曼的个人主义4.应用:选读《草叶集》诗选:"一个孩子的成长"、"涉水的骑兵'"、"自己之歌"的主题结构、诗歌的艺术特色、语言风格E.赫尔曼·麦尔维尔1.一般识记:麦尔维尔的生平及创作生涯2.识记:麦尔维尔的早期作品:《玛地》《雷得本》《白外衣》,后期作品《皮埃尔》《骗子的化装表演》《比利伯德》等3.领会:《白鲸》的(1)主题:表层及深层意义(2)小说结构:浪漫主义和现实主义的统一(3)象征手法和寓言的运用(4)语言特色4.应用:选读《白鲸》最后一章的节选:主题思想、人物刻画、象征手法、语言特色Chapter l The Romantic Period(一)"识记"内容:1.The origin of Romantic American literatureThe Romantic Period, one of the most important periods in the history of American literature, stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. It started with the publication of Washington Irving's The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman's Leaves of Grass.2.The American Renaissance or New England Renaissance is a period of the great flowering of American literature, from the i830s roughly until the end of the American Civil War. It came of age as an expression of a national spirit. One of the most important influences in the period was that of the Transcendentalists, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau. The Transcendentalists contributed to the founding of a new national culture based on native elements. Apart from the Transcendentalists, there emerged during this period great imaginativewriters ---Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman---whose novels and poetry left a permanent imprint on American literature.3.Its social historical and cultural backgroundThe development of the American society nurtured "the literature of a great nation." America was flourishing into a politically, economically and culturally independent country. Historically, it was the time of westward expansion in America economically, the whole nation was experiencing an industrial transformation. Politically, democracy and equa1ity became the ideal of the new nation, and the two-party system came into being. Worthy of mention is the literary and cultural life of the country. With the founding of the American Independent Government, the nation felt an urge to have its own literary expression, to make known its new experience that other nations did not have: the early Puritan settlement, the confrontation with the Indians, the frontiersmen's life, and the wild west. Besides, the nation's literary milieu was ready for the Romantic movement as we11. Thus, with a strong sense of optimism, a spectacular outburst of romantic feeling was brought about in the first ha1f of the 19th century.4.Major writers of this periodThere emerged a great host of men of letters during this period, among whom the better-known are poets such as Philip Freneau, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wordsworth Long Fellow, James Russel Lowell, John Greenleaf Whitter, Edgar Ellen Poe, and, especially, Walt Whitman, whose Leaves Of Grass established him as the most popular American poet of the 19th century. The fiction of the American Romantic period is an original and diverse body of work. It ranges from the comic fables of Washington Irving to the The Gothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe, from the frontier adventures of James Fenimore Cooper to the narrative quests of Herman Melville, from the psycho1ogical romances of Nathaniel Hawthorne to the social realism of Rebecca Harding Davis.(二).领会内容1.The impact of European Romanticism on American Romanticism Foreign literary masters, especially the English counterparts exerted a stimulating impact on the writers of the new world. Born of one common cultural heritage, the American writers shared some common features with the English Romanticists. They revolted against the literary forms and ideas of the period of classicism by developing some relatively new forms of fiction or poetry.(1) They put emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature, which included a liking for the picturesque, the exotic,the sensuous, the sensational, and the supernatural.(2) The Americans also placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and disp1ayed an increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters.Heroes and heroines exhibited extremes of sensitivity and excitement.(3) The strong tendency to exalt the individual and the common man was almost a national religion in America. Writers like Freneau, Bryant, and Cooper showed a great interest in external nature in their respective works.(4) The literary use of the more colorfu1 aspects of the past was also to be found in Irving's effort to exploit the legends of the Hudson River region, and in Cooper's long series of historical tales.(5)In short, American Romanticism is, in a certain way, derivative.2.The unique characteristics of American RomanticismAlthough greatly influenced by their English counterparts, the American romantic writers revealed unique characteristics of their own in their works and they grew on the native lands. For examp1e,(1) the American national experience of "pioneering into the west" proved to be a rich source of material for American writers to draw upon. They celebrated America's landscape with its virgin forests, meadows, groves, endless prairies, streams, and vast oceans. The wilderness came to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral 1aw. (2)The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature.Such a desire is particularly evident in Cooper's Leather Stocking Tales, in Thoreau's Walden and, later, in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (3) With the growth of American national consciousness,American character types speaking local dialects appeared in poetry and fiction with increasing frequency. (4) Then the American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values and American Romanticism. One of the manifestations is the fact that American romantic writers tended more to moralize than their English and European counterparts. (5) Besides, a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of origina1 sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne, Melville and a host of lesser writers.(三).应用内容1. The American Puritanism and its great influence over American moral values, as is shown in American romantic writings.(1) American PuritanismPuritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. (The Puritans were originally members of a division of the Protestant Church, who came into existence in the reigns Queen Elizabeth and King James Ⅰ.The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quitea few of them Puritans. They came to America out of various reasons, but it should be remembered that they were a group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious and moral principles. As the word itself hints, Puritans wanted to purify their religious beliefs and practices. They felt that the Church of England was too close to the Church of Rome in doctrine form of worship, and organization of authority.) The American Puritans, like their brothers back in England, were idealists, believing that the church should be restored to complete "purity".They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. But in the grim struggle for survival that followed immediately after their arrival in America, they became more and more practical, as indeed they had to be. Puritans were noted for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that determinated their whole way of life. Puritans' lives were extremely disciplined and hard. They drove out of their settlements all those opinions that seemed dangerous to them, and history has criticized their actions. Yet in the persecution of what they considered error, the Puritans were no worse than many other movements in history. As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind and American values. American Puritanism also had a conspicuously noticeable and an enduring influence on American literature. It had become, to some extent, so much a state of mind, so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere, rather than a set of tenets.(2) One of the manifestations is the fact that American romantic writers tended more to moralize than their English and European counterparts. Besides, a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of origina1 sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne, Melville and a host of lesser writers.2. New England TranscendentalismNew England Transcendentalism is the mot clearly defined Romantic literary movement in this period. It was started in the area around Concord, Mass. by a group of intellectual and the literary men of the United States such as Emerson, Henry David Thoreau who were members of an informal club, i. e. the Transcendental Club in New England in the l830s. The transcendentalists reacted against the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism in Boston. They adhered to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation , the innate goodness of man, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths. The writings of the transcendentalists prepared the ground of their contemporaries such as Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.The main issues involved in the debate were generally philosophical, concerning nature, man and the universe. Basically, Transcendentalismhas been defined philosophical1y as "the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses." Emerson once proclaimed in a speech, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism inc1ude the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and, therefore, self-re1iant.3. American Romanticists differed in their understanding of human nature.To the transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau, man is divine in nature and therefore forever perfectible; but to Hawthorne and Melville, everybody is potentially a sinner, and great moral courage is therefore indispensab1e for the improvement of human nature, as is shown in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.二.美国浪漫主义时期的主要作家Ⅰ. Washington Irving(1783-l859)Irving's position in American literature Washington Irving was one of the first American writers to earn an international reputation, and regarded as an early Romantic writer in the merican literary history and Father of the American short stories.一.一般识记His life and major worksWashington Irving was born in New York City in a wealthy family. From a very early age he began to read widely and write juvenile poems, essays, and plays. In l798, he conc1uded his education at private schools and entered a law office, but he loved writing more.His first successful work is A History Of New York from the Beginning Of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, which, written under the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, won him wide popularity after it came out in 1809. With the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. in serials between 1819 and 1820, Irving won a measure of international fame on both sides of the Atlantic. The book contains familiar essays on the Eng1ish life and Americanized versions of European folk tales like "Rip Van Winkle ", and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Geoffrey Crayon is a carefully contrived persona and behind Crayon stands Irving, juxtaposing the Old World and the New, and manipulating his own antiquarian interest with artistic perspectives.The major work of his later years was The Life of George Washington.二.识记1.Irving's great indebtedness to European literatureMost of Irving's subject matter are borrowed heavily from European sources, which are chiefly Germanic. Irving's relationship with the Old World in terms of his literary imagination can hardly be ignored considering his success both abroad and at home.A History of New York is a patchwork of references, echoes, and burlesques. He parodies or imitates Homer, Cervantes, Fielding, Swift and many other favorites of his. He was also absorbed in German Literature and got ideas from German legends for two of his famous stories "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The Alhambra is usually regarded as Irving's "Spanish Sketch Book" simply because it has a strong flavor of Spanish culture. Most of the thirty-three essays in The Sketch Book were written in England, filled with English scenes and quotations from English authors and faithful to British orthography. Washington Irving brought to the new nation what its peop1e desired most in a man of 1etters the respect of the Old World.2.Irving's unique contribution to American literatureIrving's contribution to American literature is unique in more than one way. He was the first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame. Although greatly influenced by European literature, Irving gave his works distinctive American flavor. "Rip Van Winkle" or "The Legend of Sleepy Hol1ow", however exotic these stories are, are among the treasures of the American language and culture. These two stories easily trigger off American imagination with their focus on American subjects, American landscape, and, in Irving's case, the legends of the Hudson River region of the fresh young 1and. It is not the sketches about the Old World but the tales about America that made Washington Irving a household word and his fame enduring.He was father of American short stories. And later in the hands of Hawthorne and Melville the short story attained a degree of perfection.三.领会1.Irving's theme of conservatism as is revealed in "Rip Van Winkle"Irving's taste was essentia1ly conservative and always exa1ted a disappearing past.This socia1 conservatism and literary preference for the past is revea1ed, to some extent, in his famous story "Rip Van Winkle." The story is a tale remembered mostly for Rip's 20-year s1eep, set against the background of the inevitably changing America. Rip went to sleep before the War of Independence and woke up after it. The change that had occurred in the 20 years he slept was to him not always for the better. The revolution upset the natural order of things. In the story Irving ski1lfu1ly presents to us paralleled juxtapositions of two totally different worlds before and after Rip's 20 years' s1eep. By moving Rip back and forth from a noisy world with his wife on the farm to a wild but peaceful natural world in the mountains, and from a pre-Revolution villageto a George Washington era, lrving describes Rip's response and reaction in a dramatic way, so that we see clearly both the narrator and Irving agree on the preferabi1ity of the past to the present, and the preferability of a dream-like world to the real one. Irving never seemed to accept a modern democratic America.2.Irving's literary craftsmanshipWashington Irving has always been regarded as a writer who "perfected the best classic style that American Literature ever produced."(1) We get a strong sense impression as we read him along, since the language he used best reveals what a Romantic writer can do with words. We hear rather than read, for there is musicality in almost every line of his prose.(2) We seldom learn a mora1 lesson because he wants us amused and relaxed. So we often find ourselves lost in a world that is permeated witha dreaming quality.(3) The Gothic elements and the supernatural atmosphere are manipulated in such a way that we could become so engaged and involved in what is happening in a seemingly exotic place.(4) Yet Irving never forgets to associate a certain place with the inward movement of a person and to charge his sentences with emotion so as to create a true and vivid character. He is worth the honor of being "the American Goldsmith" for his literary craftsmanship.四.应用Selected Reading:An Excerpt from "Rip Van Winkle"The story of Rip Van WinkleRip, an indolent good-natured Dutch-American, lives with his shrewish wife in a village on the Hudson during the years before the Revolution. One day while hunting in the Catskills with his dog Wolf, he meets a dwarflike stranger dressed in the ancient Dutch fashion. He helps him to carry a keg, and with him joins a party silently playing a game of ninepins. After drinking of the liquor they provide, Rip falls into a sleep which lasts 20 years, during which the Revolutionary War takes place. He awakes as an old man and returns to his home village that has greatly altered. Upon entering the village, he is greeted by his old dog, which dies of the excitement and then learns that his wife has long been dead. Rip is almost forgotten but he goes to live with his daughter, now the mother of a family, and is soon befriended with his generosity and cheerfulness.This excerpt below is taken from the story, describing for us Rip's difficulties at home, which he often escapes by going to the local inn to spend his time with his friends and sometimes by going hunting in thewoods with his dog, and then focusing on Rip 's return from his 20 years' sleep to his greatly altered home village. Here, Irving's pervasive theme of nostalgia for the unrecoverable past is at once made unforgettable.What are the theme and the artistic features of "Rip Van Winkle"?(1) The theme:Irving's taste was essentia1ly conservative and always exa1ted a disappearing past.This socia1 conservatism and literary preference for the past is revea1ed, to some extent, in his famous story "Rip Van Winkle." The story is a tale remembered mostly for Rip's 20-year s1eep, set against the background of the inevitably changing America. Rip went to sleep before the War of Independence and woke up after it. The change that had occurred in the 20 years he slept was to him not always for the better. The revolution upset the natural order of things. In the story Irving ski1lfu1ly presents to us paralleled juxtapositions of two totally different worlds before and after Rip's 20 years' s1eep. By moving Rip back and forth from a noisy world with his wife on the farm to a wild but peaceful natural world in the mountains, and from a pre-Revolution village to a George Washington era, lrving describes Rip's response and reaction in a dramatic way, so that we see clearly both the narrator and Irving agree on the preferabi1ity of the past to the present, and the preferability of a dream-like world to the real one. Irving never seemed to accept a modern democratic America.(2) The artistic features:"Rip Van Winkle" is not only well-known for Rip's 20-year sleep but also considered a model of perfect English in American Literature and in the English language as well. Washington Irving has always been regarded as a writer who "perfected the best classic style that American Literature ever produced." He has a clear, easy style.(a) We get a strong sense impression as we read him along, since the language he used best reveals what a Romantic writer can do with words. We hear rather than read, for there is musicality in almost every line of his prose.(b) We seldom learn a mora1 lesson because he wants us amused and relaxed.So we often find ourselves lost in a world that is permeated with a dreaming quality. He uses genial humor to exaggerate the seriousness of situation. He uses dignified words to produce a half-mocking effect.(c)The Gothic elements and the supernatural atmosphere are manipulated in such a way that we could become so engaged and involved in what is happening in a seemingly exotic place.( Rip Van Winkle was overwhelmed by the magic power of the drink and fell into sleep for 20 years.)(d)Yet Irving never forgets to associate a certain place with theinward movement of a person and to charge his sentences with emotion so as to create a true and vivid character. He is worth the honor of being "the American Goldsmith" for his literary craftsmanship.II. Ralph Waldo Emerson一.一般识记His life: Ralph Waldo Emerson is the chief spokesman of New England Transcendentalism, which is unanimously agreed to be the summit of the Romantic period in the history of American literature.Emerson was son of a Unitarian minister. Though born of an impoverished family, Emerson never failed to receive some formal education. Whi1e a student at Harvard he began keeping journals, a practice he continued throughout his 1if e. He later drew on the journal for materials for his essays and poetry. After Harvard, he taught as a schoolmaster, which he soon gave up for the study of theology. He began preaching in 1826 and three years later he became a pastor in a church in Boston. Emerson was ardent at first in his service in religion, but gradually grew skeptical of the beliefs of the church; feeling Unitarianism intolerable, he finally left the ministry in l832.Emerson was greatly influenced by European Romanticism. He Carlyle, and listened to some famous Romantic poets like Coleridge and Wordsworth. Through his acquaintance with these men he became closely involved with German idea1ism and Transcendentalism. After he was back from Europe, Emerson retreated to a quiet study at Concord, Massachusetts, where he began to pursue his new path of "self-reliance." Emerson formed a club there at Concord with peop1e like Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, which was later known as the Transcendenta1 Club. And the unofficial manifesto for the Club was Nature(l836), Emerson's first little book, which established him ever since as the most eloquent spokesman of New England Transcendentalism. Nature was the fundamental document of his philosophy and expressed also his constant, deeply-felt love for nature. It was called "the Manifesto of American Transcendentalism". He also helped to found and edit for a time the Transcendental journal, The Dial. Emerson lived an intel1ectually active and significant life between the mid-1830s and the mid-1840s, 1ecturing all over the country, and occasionally, abroad. He preached his Transcendental pursuit and his reputation expanded dramatically with his lectures and his essays. Though the rest of Emerson's life was a slow anticlimax to his midd1e years, people continued to honor the most influentia1 prophet and the intellectua1 liberator of their age, and his reputation as a family man of conventional life and a decent, solid citizen has remained always.二.识记内容:His major works:Emerson is generally known as an essayist. During all his life he worked steadily at a succession of essays, usually derived from his journals or lectures he had already given. Nature did not establish him as an important American writer. His lasting reputation began only with the publication of Essays(1841 ). Many of his famous essays are included in Essay, which convey the best of his philosophical discussions and transcendental pursuits, such as The American Scholar, Self Reliance, The Over Soul.The second collection of Emerson's essays, Essays: Second Series (1844) demonstrated even more thorough1y than the first that Emerson's intellect had sharpened in the years since Nature. The Poet and Exprience are examples, the former a reflection upon the aesthetic problems in terms of the present state of literature in America and the latter a discussion about the conflict between idealism and ordinary 1ife.三.领会1. Emersonian TranscendentalismEmersonian Transcendentalism is actual1y a philosophical school which absorbed some ideological concerns of American Puritanism and European Romanticism, with its focus on the intuitive knowledge of human beings to grasp the absolute in the universe and the divinity of man. In his essays, Emerson put forward his philosophy of the over-sou1, the importance of the Individual, and Nature.(1) Emerson's philosophy of the over-sou1Emerson rejected both the formal religion of the churches and the Deistic philosophy; instead he based his religion on an intuitive belief in an ultimate unity, which he called the "over-soul."Emerson and other Transcendentalists believed in the transcendence of "over-soul". It is an impersonal force that is eternal, moral, harmonious, and beneficient in tendency. They believed that there should be an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal "oversoul", since the over-sou1 is an all-pervading power from which all things come from and of which a1l are a part. One of the tendencies of the "over-soul " is to express itself in form, hence the world of nature as an emanation of the world of spirit. Emerson's remarkable image of "a transparent eyebal1" marks a paradoxical state of being, in which one is merged into nature, the over-soul, whi1e at the same time retaining a unique perception of the experience.(2) Emerson's philosophy of the importance of the IndividualEmerson is affirmative about man's intuitive knowledge, with which a man can trust himself to decide what is right and to act accordingly. The ideal individual should be a self-reliant man. "Trust thyself," hewrote in Self Reliance, by which he means to convince people that the possibilities for man to develop and improve himself are infinite.(3) Emerson's view on natureEmerson's nature is emblematic of the spiritual world, alive with God's overwhelming presence. It mediates between man and God, and its voice leads to higher truth; hence, it exercises a healthy and restorative inf1uence on human mind. "Go back to nature, sink yourse1f back into its inf1uence and you'1l become spiritually who1e again." By employing nature as a big symbol of the Spirit, or God, or the over-soul, Emerson has brought the Puritan 1egacy of symbolism to its perfection.Emersonian Transcendentalism inspired a whole generation of famous American authors like Thoreau, Whitman, and Dickinson.2.Thoreau's TranscendentalismHenry David Thoreau (1817-1862) is most often mentioned as inspired by Emerson, the most representative of the phi1osophical and literary school which is American Transcendenta1ism. Thoreau embraced his master's ideas as a disciple. In 1845 he built a cabin on some land belonging to Emerson by Walden Pond and moved in to live there in a very simple manner for a litt1e over two years, which gave birth to a great transcendentalist work Walden (1854). The book not only fully demonstrates Emersonian ideas of self-reliance but also develops and tests Thoreau's own transcendental philosophy.(1)For Thoreau, nature is not merely symbolic, but divine in itself and human beings can receive precise communication from the natural world by way of pure senses. So he was often alone in the woods or by the pond, lost in spiritual communion with nature.(2)Thoreau strongly believed in se1f-culture and was eager to identify himself with the Transcendental image of the self-reliant man. To achieve personal spiritual perfection, he thinks, the most important thing for men to do with their lives is to be self- sufficient, so he sought to reduce his physical needs and material comforts to a minimum to get spiritual richness.(3)His positiveness about the importance of individual conscience was such that he even considered the society fetters of the freedom of individuals.Though Thoreau became more than Emerson's disciple eventually, his indebtedness to Nature and its author has never been over1ooked.3. The style of Emerson's essaysEmerson's essays often have a casual style, for most of them were derived from his journals or lectures. They are usually characterized by a series of short, declarative sentences, which are not quite logically。
概述美国浪漫主义文学
概述美国浪漫主义文学经历了独立战争、南北战争的美国,到19世纪末,已完成了向帝国主义的过渡。
1.浪漫主义文学19世纪初,美国希望通过浪漫主义文学的努力建立民族文学,开始了约半个多世纪的浪漫主义运动,一般以1829年为界分为前后两期。
(1)前期浪漫主义①欧文有“美国文学之父”之称,他的代表作是一部包括散文、随感、故事等在内的《见闻札记》,其中最著名的是《隔普·凡·温克尔》、《睡谷的传说》等短篇小说。
②詹姆斯·费尼莫·库珀因创作了一批“纯粹美国式”的长篇小说而在文学史上占据重要地位。
他开创了美国文学史上三种不同的小说形式,即以《间谍》为代表的革命历史小说,以《开拓者》为代表的边疆题材小说和以《水手》为代表的航海生活小说。
(2)后期浪漫主义①以超验主义为思想基础的后期浪漫主义文学的出现,标志着美国文学逐步进入了成熟阶段。
宣扬人的本性、人的智慧和创造力、人的个人意志和绝对自由,是后期浪漫主义的基本内容。
②后期浪漫主义在理论和创作上的最早代表是拉尔夫·华尔多·爱默生,影响最大的浪漫主义小说家是纳撒尼尔·霍桑。
霍桑的思想偏于保守,常以抽象的善恶观点来观察分析社会现象,长篇小说《红字》被认为是他的代表作。
③朗费罗,是浪漫主义诗歌的代表。
19世纪最杰出的民主诗人惠特曼的诗作的出现,代表着浪漫主义文学的最高成就,也使美国文学真正获得了世界性的声誉。
2.现实主义文学现实主义文学在反对南方蓄奴制的斗争中形成的废奴文学,对残酷反动的蓄奴制进行了深刻的揭露和批判,表现了强烈的民主倾向,这方面的重要作品有理查·希尔德烈斯的《白奴》和哈里叶特·比彻·斯托夫人的《汤姆大伯的小屋》。
3.象征主义文学(1)南方作家艾德加·爱伦·坡是象征主义文学的鼻祖。
(2)他把创作视为脱离现实和超感觉的纯粹主观思维的过程,提倡“纯艺术”、“纯诗歌”。
美国文学发展历程探究
美国文学发展历程探究美国文学发展历程可以追溯到16世纪,当时欧洲殖民者开始在北美定居。
随着时间的推移,美国文学不断发展,展现了一些显著的特点和主题。
第一阶段:殖民时期美国文学的起源可以追溯到殖民时期,主要是英国殖民者通过传统浪漫、历史和神话来记录和传播其文化。
最著名的文学作品包括威廉·布莱克斯通的《红色字母》和托马斯·哈丁的《梦在一个夏日的午后》。
18世纪中期,美国开始出现了革命性的思想和理念,这也影响了美国文学的发展。
美国启蒙时期的作家们致力于传达理性、自由和平等的思想,其中最有代表性的作家是托马斯·潘恩、本杰明·富兰克林和托马斯·杰斐逊。
他们的作品包括政治论文、科学论文和启蒙小说等。
第三阶段:浪漫主义时期在19世纪初期,美国开始出现了一种新的文学潮流——浪漫主义。
这一时期的文学作品主要是以个人和情感为基础,这种写作方式在其它方面也有所体现,例如创作诗歌、绘画和音乐。
美国最具代表性的浪漫主义作家包括爱德华·波和威廉·坎伯尔·布莱安特,他们的作品大受欢迎,对美国文学产生了深远的影响。
20世纪初期,美国文学经历了一个重要的转变,从浪漫主义转向现实主义。
现实主义作家关注的是现实世界中的个人和社会问题,他们试图以真实和客观的方式表现现实。
美国最著名的现实主义作家包括马克·吐温、亨利·詹姆士和斯蒂芬·克莱恩。
20世纪30年代,美国文学经历了又一次巨大的转变,进入了现代主义时期。
现代主义作家反叛传统的写作方式,他们试图以新的方式表现现实世界。
著名的现代主义作家包括欧内斯特·海明威、弗里德里希·尼采和托马斯·曼。
总结美国文学发展经历了一个多世纪的历程,每个时期都有其特点和主题。
殖民时期的作品主要是以文化传播为主题,启蒙时期的作品致力于传达自由和平等的理念,浪漫主义时期的作品强调情感和个人主义,现实主义时期的作品追求真实和客观表现,现代主义时期的作品反叛传统,后现代主义时期的作品突破传统的写作规则和方式。
美国浪漫主义时期文学家及其作品
美国浪漫主义时期文学家及其作品华盛顿·欧文(Washington Irving,1783年-1859年),19世纪美国最著名的作家,号称美国文学之父。
出生在纽约一个富商家庭,从少年时代起就喜爱阅读英国作家司各特、拜仑和彭斯等人的作品。
第一部重要作品是《纽约外史》。
1820年,欧文的《见闻札记》出版,引起欧洲和美国文学界的重视,这部作品奠定了欧文在美国文学史上的地位。
此外还有作品《瑞普·凡·温克尔》《睡谷的传说》等。
詹姆斯·库珀(James Cooper,l789年-1851年) 美国小说家,早期写有《间谍》《拓荒者》《舵手》,还写了反映欧洲生活的三部曲:《刺客》《黑衣教士》和《刽子手》,表现教权和封建势力在资本主义兴起之前已日趋腐朽和衰落。
在《归途》和《家乡面貌》中不仅讽刺了美国社会,还讽刺了家乡库珀斯敦的一些人物的伪善和愚意,因此而受到舆论攻击。
他最有成就的作品,如《皮袜子故事集》五部曲,对美国的西部小说产生很大影响,至今仍拥有不少读者。
威廉·卡伦·布莱恩特(William Cullen Bryant,1794年-1878年),美国诗人和新闻记者。
美国最早期的自然主义诗人之一。
他的作品包括:《诗集》《泉水与其他》《白足鹿及其他诗》《诗三十首》《自然之声》《似水流年》《游历者的信札》等。
纳撒尼尔·霍桑(Nathaniel Hawthorne,1804年-1864年),19世纪前半期美国伟大的小说家。
其代表作品有:短篇小说集《古宅青苔》、《重讲一遍的故事》等,长篇小说《红字》、《带七个尖顶的阁楼》、《福谷传奇》、《玉石人像》等。
这些都是世界文学史上不可多得的经典名著。
埃德加·爱伦·坡(Edgar Allan Poe,1809年-1849年),十九世纪美国诗人、小说家和文学评论家,在世时长期担任报刊编辑工作。
美国文学期末复习笔记 (1)
美国文学笔记III. The Romantic period (浪漫主义时期): (1800-1865)American Transcendentalism(美国超验主义)(1830s- Civil War)Summit of Romanticism/ American Renaissance1. Appearance1836, ―Nature‖ by Emerson2. Features of Transcendentalism(1). Spirit(思想)/Oversoul(超灵)(2). importance of individualism(3). nature – symbol of spirit/God;garment of the oversoul(4). focus in intuition (irrationalism and subconsciousness)IV. The American Realism 现实主义时期(1865-1918)1. Three Giants in Realistic PeriodWilliam Dean Howells –―Dean of American Realism‖Henry JamesMark Twain2. Comparison:Theme:Howells –middle classJames –upper classTwain –lower classTechnique:Howells –smiling/genteel realismJames –psychological realismTwain –local colourism and colloquialismMark Twain (1835-1910):1. Summary:American writer, short story writer/Humorist2. Major works:The Celebrated jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865)《卡拉维拉县弛名的跳蛙》Innocents Abroad (1869) 《傻子国外旅行记》The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) 《汤姆.索亚历险记》Life on the Mississippi (1883) 《密西西比河上》The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1886)《哈克贝里.费恩历险记》: All modern American literature comes from his masterpiece ―The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.‖——Ernest Hemingway3. Style:(1). colloquial language(口语), vernacular (本土的)language, dialects(2). local colour(3). syntactic feature: sentences are simple, brief, and sometimes ungrammatical(4). humour(5). tall tales (highly exaggerated) (荒诞不经的故事)(6). social criticism (satire on the different ugly things in society)4. ContributionOne of Mark Twain’s significant contributions to American literature lies in the fact that he made colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country.Henry James (1843-1916)1. Summary:An American and British novelist, literary criticFounder of psychological realismFirst of the modern psychological novelistInitiator of the international theme: American innocence in face of European sophistication2. Major works:Daisy Miller (1878)《戴茜·米勒》The Portrait of a Lady (1881) 《贵妇的肖像》The Wings of the Dove (1902)《鸽翼》The Ambassadors (1903)《专使》The Golden Bowl (1904)《金碗》The Art of Fiction(1884)《小说的艺术》3. His Point of view(1). Psychological analysis, forefather of stream of consciousness(2).Psychological realism(3). Highly-refined language4. Style –“stylist”(1). Language: highly-refined, polished, insightful, and accurate(2).V ocabulary: large(3). Construction: complicated, intricateNaturalism(自然主义)1. Background:(1). Dar win’s theory: ―natural selection‖(2).Spenser’s idea: ―social Darwinism‖(3). French Naturalism: Zora2. Features(1). environment and heredity(2). scientific accuracy and a lot of details(3). general tone: ironic and pessimistic, hopelessness, despair, gloom, ugly side of the societySt ephen Crane (1881-1900)1. Summary:Novelist, poetPioneer in the naturalistic traditionPrecursors(先驱)of Imagist poetry2. Major Works:Maggie: A Girl of the Streets 《街头女郎麦姬》: the first naturalistic novel in AmericaThe Red Badge of Courage 《红色英勇勋章》The Open Boat《海上扁舟》V. AMERICAN MODERNISM (1918-1945)(美国现代主义)F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)1. Summary:Famous American novelist, short story writer, and essayistthe representative of the 1920sthe spokesman for the Jazz Ageone of the“lost generation”writers2. Major WorksThis Side of Paradise (1920) 《人间天堂》Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) 《爵士乐时代的故事》Tender Is the Night (1934) 《夜色温柔》The Great Gatsby (1925) 《了不起的盖茨比》:Narrative point of view – Nick CarrawayTheme: The decline of the American Dream3. His Point of view(1). He expressed what the young people believed in the 1920s, the so-called ―American Dream‖ is false innature.(2). He had always been critical of the rich and tried to show the integrating effects of money on theemotional make-up of his character. He found that wealth altered people’s characters, making them mean and distrusted. He thinks money brought only tragedy and remorse.(3). His novels follow a pattern: dream – lack of attraction – failure and despair.4. His ideas of “American Dream”It is false to most young people. Only those who were dishonest could become rich.William Faulkner (1897-1962)1. Sumary:An American novelist and poetInitiator of American Southern RenaissanceOne of the most influential modern novelists of 20th centuryNobel Prize winner for literature in 19492. Major Works:The Sound and the Fury 《喧哗与骚动》As I Lay Dying 《在我弥留之际》Light in August 《八月之光》Absalom, Absalom 《押沙龙,押沙龙!》Go Down, Moses 《去吧,摩西》Barn Burning 《烧牲口棚》Yoknapatawpha County(约克纳帕塔法县):--- A fictional county in northern Mississippi, the setting for most of William Faulkner’s novels and short stories, and patterned upon Faulkner’s actual home in Lafayette County, Mississippi.3. Major Themes of his Works(1). history and race(2). Deterioration(3). Conflicts between generations, classes, races, man and environment(4). Horror, violence and the abnormal4. Faulkner's narrative technique(1).Withdrawal of the author as a controlling narrator(2). Dislocation of the narrative time: The most characteristic way of structuring his stories is to fragment thechronological time.(3). the modern stream-of-consciousness(意识流)technique and the interior monologue(内心独白):(4). Multiple points of view(多重视角)(5). symbolism and mythological and biblical(圣经的)allusionsErnest Hemingway (1899—1961)1. Summary:Novelist and short-story writerOne of the great American writers of the 20th centuryThe Spokesman of the ―Lost Generation‖Nobel Prize winner for literature in 19542. Major worksThe Sun Also Rises 《太阳照常升起》A Farewell to Arms《永别了,武器》For Whom the Bell Tolls 《丧钟为谁而鸣》/ 《战地钟声》The Old Man and the Sea 《老人与海》A Clean, Well-lighted Place 《一个干净,明亮的地方》3. Major Themes(1).The ―Nada‖(虚无) Concept(2).Grace under pressure(压力下的优雅)―Man is not made for defeats. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.‖------The Old Man and the Sea(3). Code Hero(准则英雄/ 硬汉)a. The Hemingway hero is not a thinker; he is a man of action.b.―Grace under pressure is their motto.c.The Hemingway code heroes are best remembered for their indestructible(不可毁灭的)spirit.4. Artistic features(1) .The iceberg(冰山)techniqueThe dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.(2). Language stylea. simple and naturalb.direct, clear and freshc. lean and economicald.simple, conversational, common found, fundamental wordse. simple sentencesf. Iceberg principle: understatement, implied thingsg.SymbolismEzra Pound (1885—1972)1. Summary:A leading spokesman of the ―Imagist Movement‖(意象主义运动)One of the most influential American poets and critic2. Major works:Cathay:《华夏集》《神州集》《中国诗章》Hugh Selwyn Mauberley《休·赛尔温·毛伯利》Cantos /《诗章》3. Imagism (1909-1917)(1) .Background:Imagism was influenced by French symbolism, ancient Chinese poetry and Japaneseliterature ―haiku‖(2). Defintion : The imagists, with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to expressthe these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image.(3): Manifesto of Imagism:•Direct treatment•Economy of expression•New rhythmIn a station of the Metro《在一个地铁站》: a quintessential(典型的)imagist textRobert Frost(1847-1963)1. Summary:the most popular American poetWon Pulitzer Prize four timesReceived honorary degrees from forty-four colleges and universitiesRead ― The Gift Outright‖ at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 19612. Famous Poems:F ire and Ice《火与冰》The Road Not Taken 《未选择的路》Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 《雪夜伫立林边有感》Mending Wall《补墙》After Apple-Picking《摘罢苹果》3. Frost’s writing featureHis combination of the traditional verse pattern and a colloquial distinctive language (New England Speech)Eugene O’Neil (1888-1953)1. Summary:America's greatest playwrightWon the Pulitzer Prize four timesWon Nobel Prize in 1936Founder of the American drama2. Major WorksBeyond the Horizon (1920) 《天边外》The Emperor Jones(1920) 《琼斯皇帝》The Hairy Ape (1922)《毛猿》Desire under the Elms (1924) 《榆树下的欲望》美国文学笔记整理完整版18世纪末-19世纪中后浪漫主义时期Romanticism1. 早期浪漫主义华盛顿·欧文美国文学之父father of American Literature(为美国文学第一次赢得世界声誉)Washington Irving 以笔记小说和历史传厅闻名,humor1783-1859 The Sketch Book见闻札记(标志浪漫主义开始)A History of New York纽约史---美国人写的第一部诙谐文学杰作;----The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说---成为美国第1个获国际声誉作家-----Rip Van Winkle里普·万·温克尔(李伯大梦)The Alhambra阿尔罕伯拉2.超验主义New England Transcendentalism埃德加·爱伦·坡侦探小说之父Father of western detective stories and psychoanalytic criticism精神批Edgar Allan Poe 评,首开近代侦探小说先河,又是法国象征主义运动的源头1809-1849 Novelist小说家, poet, critic批评家good at writing Gothic(哥特式)and detective fictionPoetryThe Raven《乌鸦》To Helen《献给海伦》Short storiesHorror ( suspense, terror, Insanity, death,Revenge and rebirth)The Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍古屋的倒塌》The Masque of the Red Death 《红色死亡的化妆舞会》The Black Cat《黑猫》The Cask of Amontillado《一桶白葡萄酒》Ligeia《丽姬娅》Detective /ratiocinative(推理的)(originator)The Purloined Letter 《窃信案》The Muder in the Rue Morgue 《莫格街谋杀案》The Mystery of Marie Rog《玛丽.罗热疑案》The Gold Bug 《金甲虫》拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生Nature论自然-----新英格兰超验主义者的宣言书manifestoRalf Waldo Emerson The American Scholar论美国学者;American essayist,lecturer, poetThe Founder of Transcendentalism1803-1882 Self-reliance论自立The Transcendentalist超验主义者Representative Men代表人物School Address神学院演说Days日子-首开自由诗之先河free verseRalph Waldo Emerson was an American philosopher, essayist, and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism个人主义.纳撒尼尔·霍桑subject: human soul first great American writer of fiction 虚构Nathaniel Hawthorne 象征主义大师American novelist and short story writer1804-1864 The Scarlet Letter红字Twice-told Tales尽人皆知的故事Mosses from an Old Manse古屋青苔The House of the Seven Gables有七个尖角阁的房子The Marble Faun玉石雕像The Blithedale Romance福谷传奇Young Goodman Brown年轻的布朗The Birthmark胎记His point of view : Hawthorne is influenced by Puritanism(清教主义)deeply.(1). Evil is at the core of human life 邪恶是人类生活的中心(2).whenever there is sin 罪恶, there is punishment 惩罚. Sin or evil can be passed from generation to generation 代代相传(3). Evil educates. 邪恶的教育(4). He has disgust in science科学. One source of evil is overweening (自负的) (too proud of oneself) intellect . His intellectual characters聪明的特征are villains反派角色, dreadful可怕的and cold-blooded冷血的赫尔曼·迈尔维尔擅长航海奇遇和异域风情Herman Melville Moby Dick/The White Whale白鲸(first American prose epic史诗)1819-1891 Main characters: Ishmael(以实玛利): the narrator 叙述者Ahab(埃哈伯): the protagonist 主要人物Moby DickTypee泰比Omoo奥穆Mardi玛地White Jacket白外衣Pierre皮尔埃; Billy Budd比利·巴德沃尔特·惠特曼Father of free verse自由诗之父Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass草叶集(the birth of truly American poetry and the1819-1892 end of romanticism)共和圣经Democratic Bible 美国史诗American EpicAmerican poet, essayist散文家, journalist新闻工作者, and humanist人道主义学家The father of free verse(自由诗)Song of Myself自我之歌Democratic Vistas 民主的前景One’s Self I Sing 《我歌唱一个人的自己》O Captain! My Captain! 《噢,我的船长!我的船长!》3.Writing themes (almost everything):equality of things and beings 平等的事情和人divinity 神学of everythingImmanence(无所不在)of GodDemocracy 民主evolution of cosmos(宇宙的演化)multiplicity 多样性of natureself-reliant spirit 自力更生的精神death, beauty of deathexpansion of America 美国的扩张brotherhood 手足情谊and social solidarity(社会团结)(unity of nations in the world世界统一的国家) pursuit 追求of love and happiness4.S tyle: “free verse(自由诗): the verse that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern固定的韵律模式, the verse without a fixed beat 固定的节拍or regular rhyme scheme规律的格律.(1).Parallelism(排比)(2).phonetic recurrence(同字起句法)(the repetition重复of words or phrases at the beginning of the line, inthe middle or at the end)(3).the use of a certain pronoun ―I‖ (the first person narrator)(4).strong tendency to use oral English使用英语口语的强烈倾向(5).the habit of using snapshots 生活小照(6).a looser and more open-ended syntactic structure语法结构(7).use of conventional image 传统的想象(8).vocabulary – powerful, colourful, rarely used words of foreign origins, some even wrong(9). sentences – catalogue目录technique: long list of names, long poem lines5. Significance of Leaves of GrassLeaves of Gras s, either in content or in form, is an epoch-making work in American literature:无论是在内容还是在形式上,是一个划时代的作品在美国文学→Its democratic content marked the shift from Romanticism to Realism. 其民主内容标志着从浪漫主义到现实主义的转变→Its free-verse form broke from old poetic conventions to open a new way for American poetry.其生发的形式从旧的诗意的约定了打开新的思路对美国诗歌。
浪漫主义时期的美国文学 课件
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1.3 龙毛忠的描述
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美国文学中的浪漫主义时代是 指18世纪末期到南北战争爆发 前期的这段时间,因为文学的 勃兴与繁荣,又称“美国文艺 复兴”。华盛顿·欧文的《见闻 札记》(The Sketch Book, 1820)的出版宣告了这一伟大 时代的开始,惠特曼的《草叶 集》(Leaves of Grass, 1855) 则标志着浪漫主义文学的高峰。
The importance of the frontier and the wilderness in American literature is for the first time well-illustrated in Cooper’s Leathering-stocking Tales and was to remain a major concern for many later authors. Cooper is the first important American novelist. 库珀在美国文学史上开创了三种不同类型的小说:边疆冒险小说《拓荒者》、革 命历史小说《间谍》、海上冒险小说《舵手》。他还创作了欧洲生活三部曲:《刺客》 (1831)、《黑衣教士》(1832)、《刽子手》(1833)。
In all the major literary genres except drama, writers produced works of an originality and excellence not exceeded in later American history. Romantic writers placed increasing value on the free expression of emotion and displayed increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters
美国文学浪漫主义时期
美国文学浪漫主义时期浪漫主义时期开始于十八世纪末,到内战爆发为止,是美国文学史上最重要的时期。
华盛顿·欧文出版的《见闻札记》标志着美国文学的开端,惠特曼的《草叶集》是浪漫主义时期文学的压卷之作。
浪漫主义时期的文学是美国文学的繁荣时期,所以也称为"美国的文艺复兴。
"美国社会的发展哺育了"一个伟大民族的文学"。
年轻的美国没有历史的沉重包袱,很快在政治、经济和文化方面成长为一个独立的国家。
这一时期也是美国历史上西部扩张时期,到1860年领土已开拓到太平洋西岸。
到十九世纪中叶,美国已由原来的十三个州扩大到二十一个州,人口从1790年的四百万增至1860年的三千万。
在经济上,年轻的美国经历向工业的转化,影响所及不仅仅是城市,而且也包括农村。
蒸汽动力在工、农业生产上的运用、工厂的建立、劳动力的大量需求以及科技上的发明创造使经济生活得到了重组。
另外,大量移民促进了工业更加蓬勃的发展。
政治上,民主与平等成为这个年轻国家的理想,产生了两党制。
值得一提的是这个国家的文学和文化生活。
随着独立的美国政府的成立,美国人民已感到需要有美国文学,表达美国人民所特有的经历:早期清教徒的殖民,与印第安人的遭遇,边疆开发者的生活以及西部荒原等。
这个年轻国家的文学富有想象,已产生了一种文学环境。
报刊杂志如雨后春笋,出现了一大批文学读者,形成了十九世纪上半叶蓬勃的浪漫主义的文学思潮。
外国的,尤其是英国的文学大师对美国作家产生了重大影响。
美国作家由于秉承了与英国一样的文化传统,形成了同英国一样的浪漫主义风格。
欧文(Irving)、库柏(Cooper),坡(Poe),弗伦诺(Freneau)和布雷恩特(Bryant)一一反古典主义时期的文学样式和文学思潮,开创了较新的小说和诗歌形式。
这一时期大多数美国文学作品中,普遍强调文学的想象力和情感因素,注重生动的描写、异国情调的表达、感官的体会和对超自然力的描述。
美国浪漫主义时期的作家及其作品
美国浪漫主义时期的作家及其作品摘要:美国浪漫主义时期开始于18世纪末,以南北战争的爆发标志告终。
这是美国文学史上一个重要的时期。
浪漫主义文学的基本特征是:作品主观色彩浓厚,倾向于表达主观思想,强调表达个人情感和经历。
强调主体性,轻客观和自我表现,轻客观模仿。
关键词:浪漫主义,思想,情感作为一个涵盖18世纪最后几年和19世纪头几十年最具特色的作家的术语,“浪漫主义者”是必不可少的,但也有一点误导:当时没有自诩为“浪漫主义运动”,这一时期的伟大作家也不自称浪漫主义者。
直到威廉·冯·施莱格尔1808-09年8月在维也纳的演讲,才在浪漫主义艺术的“有机的”、“可塑性的”特质和古典主义的“机械的”特质之间建立了明确的区分。
然而,那个时代的许多著名作家都认为,世界事务正在发生一些新的变化。
1793年,威廉·布莱克断言“一个新的天堂开始了”,一代人之后,珀西·比希·雪莱的“世界的伟大时代重新开始”与之相匹配。
约翰·济慈(John Keats)在提到利·亨特(Leigh Hunt)和威廉·华兹华斯(William Wordsworth)时写道:“这些,这些将给世界带来另一颗心脏和其他搏动。
”新的理想涌现出来;特别是,英国长期珍视的自由理想,正在扩展到人类努力的各个领域。
当这一理想席卷欧洲时,它被认为是一种理想。
当代诗歌最显著的特点是个体思想和个体情感的新作用。
18世纪诗学的主要趋势是赞扬一般人,把诗人视为社会的代言人,面向有教养的、同质的听众,以传递“真理”为目的,而浪漫主义者则在特定的、独特的经历中找到了诗歌的来源。
布莱克对约书亚·雷诺兹爵士的《话语》的边缘评论以其特有的激烈表达了这一立场:“概括就是做一个白痴。
特殊化是唯一的功绩"诗人被认为是一个区别于他的同伴的个体,因为他的感知强度,他的基本主题是他自己的思想的运作。
美国文学
• • • •
The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Prairie (1827), The Pathfinder (1840) The Deerslayer (1841)
Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849)
American writer, known as a poet and critic but most famous as the first master of the short-story form (see Short Story), especially tales of the mysterious and macabre. The literary merits of Poe's writings have been debated since his death, but his works have remained popular and many major American and European writers have professed their artistic debt to him.
– 忧郁、悲观、神秘。
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
• American essayist and poet, a leader of the philosophical movement of transcendentalism. Influenced by such schools of thought as English romanticism, Neoplatonism, and Hindu philosophy (see Hinduism), Emerson is noted for his skill in presenting his ideas eloquently and in poetic language.
了解美国文学史分期,简述各期 文学创作特点 (120字左右
了解美国文学史分期,简述各期文学创作特点(120字左右1、第一阶段:殖民时期(约1607-1765)这一时期大约从1607年JohnSmith船长带领第一批移民在北美大陆建立第一个英国殖民地Jamestown到1765殖民地人们愤怒抗议英国政府颁布的印花税法。
2、第二阶段:启蒙时期与独立战争时期(1765-18世纪末)这是北美人民争取独立、建立美利坚和中和国的时期。
18世纪30年代,在欧洲启蒙主义和自然神论等哲学思潮的影响下,上帝的作用大大削弱,清教徒们掀起一场“大觉醒”运动。
18世纪末期,北美大陆的政治形势发展很快,从1765年英国殖民者第一次反对英国政府的印花税到1789年美国联邦政府成立,文学作品主要围绕着革命的必要性、革命的前途和方向、政府的形式与性质等问题。
3、浪漫主义时期(1800-1865)19世纪初,美国完全摆脱了对英国的依赖,以独立国家的身份进入世界政治舞台。
民族文学开始全面繁荣,逐渐打破英国文学在美国的垄断局面。
这时期作家们跟英国浪漫主义作家一样,强调文学的想象力和感情色彩,反对古典主义的形式和观点,歌颂大自然,崇尚个人和普通人的思想感情,并且寻根问祖,发幽古之思情。
特别是以爱默生为代表的超验主义(Transcendentalism)的倡导, 这些作家们主张人能超越感觉和理性而直接认识真理,摒弃以神为中心的清教教义。
4、现实主义时期(1865-1918)南北战争(1861-1865)以后到第一次世界大战爆发,美国完成了从农业社会到工业社会的转化,社会面貌和经济生活开始发生急剧的变化。
工业化带来了蓬勃兴旺的发展,同时也带来了政治日趋腐败,政界丑闻屡见不鲜,是人们重新认识新的生活和新开发的土地。
于是乡土文学得到了很大的发展。
5、现代主义时期(1918-1945)自20世纪开始,美国文学进入新的时代。
第一次世界大战对美国人的思想和精神面貌产生极大的影响。
人们对于自由民主的信念开始动摇,普遍感到迷茫,甚至绝望。
列举美国浪漫主义时期的十位代表人物
列举美国浪漫主义时期的十位代表人物1.欧内斯特·海明威:由他笔下流传下来的小说《老人与海》,让他成为20世纪文学史上最重要的作家之一。
他把浪漫主义时期带入新高度,他把反抗人文主义价值观和对自由主义的完美诠释融合在一起,彻底颠覆了传统的思想模式。
2.威廉·巴特勒:他的作品表达了典型的浪漫主义语境,思想宣泄得更加饱满,充满了激情、哲思、爱情和远征的冒险,反映出他对英雄主义的深厚热情。
在美国文学史上,他是美国浪漫主义文学最重要的代表人物之一。
3.华莱士·梭罗:他的作品表达了壮丽的浪漫主义理念,带给人们直观地思想体验,使得美国浪漫主义文学具有非凡的影响力和美学价值。
他从个人的经验出发,强调个人的自由和追求。
4.大卫·霍索斯:他的作品结合了古典主义和浪漫主义,情感凝结于极致的诗意美,他的文字也被誉为‘冰雪精华’。
他把浪漫主义文学发挥到顶峰,赋予了美国浪漫主义文学以新的生命力。
5.拉尔夫·弗兰克:他是被公认的美国浪漫主义作家,他的作品深刻体现出其对人格自主权的高度追求,同时也将他对社会自由与正义的理想和对美国这片土地的情怀融入其作品之中。
6.马修·布朗:他的作品把古典主义的繁复思想、浪漫主义的感性情感和现实主义的实用理念结合起来,成为刻画美国精神的经典之作。
他的文字渗透着自然美的表现,表现出美国浪漫主义的主题思想。
7.约翰·斯威夫特:他的作品将原始性、激情、流浪和抗争融合到一起,突出了美国人民在独立上的斗争。
他以独特的诗意,运用现实主义和浪漫主义,表达了自由、平等和民主的理想。
8.亨利·贝克曼:他的作品拥有浓郁的浪漫主义风格,他以充满视觉冲击力的文字,在历史背景下表现出自由对抗暴政的争斗精神,把人们带到了一个全新的情感世界。
9.托马斯·柯尔特:他的作品把浪漫主义的思想与古典主义的方式结合起来,思想深刻,文笔动人,拥有极大的批判精神,而且在情感上表现出非凡的温情、热情和浪漫。
美国文学中的浪漫主义思潮
美国文学中的浪漫主义思潮浪漫主义是一种欧洲文化上升期的思潮,在艺术和文学中得到了广泛的应用。
第一次浪漫主义运动在18世纪末和19世纪初达到高峰,而美国的浪漫主义思潮在19世纪初期也开始流行。
美国文学中的浪漫主义思潮源远流长,不仅影响了美国的文学,也影响了全世界的文学。
一、美国浪漫主义文学的形成背景美国的浪漫主义文学在十九世纪初期形成,那个时期正是美国独立后的商业和工业发展时期。
美国社会开放、自由、富有创造力的气氛滋生了一种民族精神。
在美国,与欧洲浪漫主义运动相似的思潮组织被成立,通行的思想是人应该拥有自由的生活与自由的精神。
二、美国浪漫主义文学的特点1. 对自然的崇拜浪漫主义文学中,自然是一种重要的元素,它给人以启示和力量。
这种对自然的推崇和崇拜是美国浪漫主义文学初期发展的一个特点。
由此可以看出,在浪漫主义文学中,自然被视为医治人心灵创伤的办法。
美国作家们喜欢在他们的作品中描绘大自然的恢弘之美,来体现他们对大自然的敬畏与推崇。
2. 主人公的内心在美国浪漫主义文学中,个体主义和内省被视为非常重要的因素。
这个时期的作家们试图在他们的作品中刻画主人公的内心和感情状态。
在这个阶段,个人的独立与自主被视作非常重要的。
因此,在作品中主角的成长和个性的塑造已成为美国浪漫主义文学最重要的特点。
浪漫主义文学强调人的内心感受,尤其是对理想和崇高的感受。
3. 对过去的回归美国浪漫主义文学中,对传统的看法变得与众不同,没有从传统中快速觉醒的信念,但是,它强调去初探传统的形态,或通过重新审视旧的文化传统来创新。
美国浪漫主义文学中的作家们由于对旧有的文化复兴的追求,因而创造了许多历史题材的作品。
三、美国浪漫主义文学的代表作家及其作品1. 华盛顿·欧文欧文是19世纪美国浪漫派文学的代表人物,他的作品充满了清新的浪漫主义情调,并获得了广泛的认可。
最具代表性的作品包括《河谷传说》、《狄德里克小教堂》和《伊斯特里比地区的传说》。
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美国文学浪漫主义时期浪漫主义时期开始于十八世纪末,到内战爆发为止,是美国文学史上最重要的时期。
华盛顿·欧文出版的《见闻札记》标志着美国文学的开端,惠特曼的《草叶集》是浪漫主义时期文学的压卷之作。
浪漫主义时期的文学是美国文学的繁荣时期,所以也称为"美国的文艺复兴。
"美国社会的发展哺育了"一个伟大民族的文学"。
年轻的美国没有历史的沉重包袱,很快在政治、经济和文化方面成长为一个独立的国家。
这一时期也是美国历史上西部扩张时期,到1860年领土已开拓到太平洋西岸。
到十九世纪中叶,美国已由原来的十三个州扩大到二十一个州,人口从1790年的四百万增至1860年的三千万。
在经济上,年轻的美国经历向工业的转化,影响所及不仅仅是城市,而且也包括农村。
蒸汽动力在工、农业生产上的运用、工厂的建立、劳动力的大量需求以及科技上的发明创造使经济生活得到了重组。
另外,大量移民促进了工业更加蓬勃的发展。
政治上,民主与平等成为这个年轻国家的理想,产生了两党制。
值得一提的是这个国家的文学和文化生活。
随着独立的美国政府的成立,美国人民已感到需要有美国文学,表达美国人民所特有的经历:早期清教徒的殖民,与印第安人的遭遇,边疆开发者的生活以及西部荒原等。
这个年轻国家的文学富有想象,已产生了一种文学环境。
报刊杂志如雨后春笋,出现了一大批文学读者,形成了十九世纪上半叶蓬勃的浪漫主义的文学思潮。
外国的,尤其是英国的文学大师对美国作家产生了重大影响。
美国作家由于秉承了与英国一样的文化传统,形成了同英国一样的浪漫主义风格。
欧文(Irving)、库柏(Cooper),坡(Poe),弗伦诺(Freneau)和布雷恩特(Bryant)一一反古典主义时期的文学样式和文学思潮,开创了较新的小说和诗歌形式。
这一时期大多数美国文学作品中,普遍强调文学的想象力和情感因素,注重生动的描写、异国情调的表达、感官的体会和对超自然力的描述。
美国作家特别注意感情的自由表达和人物的心理描写。
作品中的主人公富有敏感激动的特质。
注重表现个人和普通人是这一时期作品的强烈倾向,几乎成了美国的信仰。
富雷诺、布雷思特和库柏等人的作品对客观自然的描写有强烈的兴趣。
富雷诺在"帝国的废墟"主题中对过去情景的描写绘声绘色,布雷恩特对北美五大湖区的史前印第安人描述引人入胜,欧文对哈德逊河传说的巧加利用炉火纯青,库柏的长篇历史小说深入细致。
总的来说,美国浪漫主义时期的文学上接英国文学传统,下开美国文学之风。
虽然美国文学受到外国文学的影响,但这一时期著名的文学作品表现的却是富有美国色彩的浪漫主义思想。
"西部开拓"就是一个说明美国作家表现自己国家的恰好的例子。
他们大量描述了美国本土的自然风光:原始的森林、广袤的平原、无际的草原、沧茫的大海、不一而足。
这些自然景物成为人们品格的象征,形成了美国文学中离开尘世,心向自然的传统。
这些传统在库柏的《皮袜子的故事》(Leather Stocking Tales〉、梭罗的《沃尔顿》(Walden)以及后来马克·吐温的《哈克贝里·芬历险记》(Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn)中都得到了明显的表现。
随着美国民族意识的增长,在小说、诗歌中美国人物都越来越明显地操本地方言,作品多表现农民、穷人、儿童以及没有文化的人,还有那些虽然没文化但心地高尚的红种人和白种人。
美国清教作为一种文化遗产,对美国人的道德观念产生了很大影响,在美国文学中也留下了明显的印迹。
一个明显的表现就是,比起欧洲文学,美国文学的道德倾向十分浓厚。
在霍桑(Hawthorne)、梅尔维尔(Melville)以及其他一些小作家的作品中加尔文主义的原罪思想和罪恶的神秘性都得到了充分的表现。
美国浪漫主义文学运动足能标炳的是新英格兰的超验主义运动。
该运动开始于19世纪30年代的新英格兰的先验主义俱乐部。
本来,这个超验主义只是对新英格兰人提出来的。
它是针对波士顿的唯一神教派的冷淡古板的理性主义而提的。
而后来逐渐影响到全国,特别是在高级知识分子和文学界人士当中影响颇大。
超验主义文学的主要代表是爱默生(Emerson)和梭罗(Henry Davd Thoreau),他们的作品对美国文学产生了很大影响。
超验主义"承认人类具有本能了解或认识真理的能力,能够超过感官获取知识"。
爱默生曾说:"只有人心灵的尊严才是最神圣的。
"超验主义还认为自然是高尚的,个人是神圣的,因此人必须自助。
这一时期涌现了许多作家,著名的有富雷诺(Philip Freneau〉、布雷恩特(William Cullen Bryant)、郎费罗(Henry Words worth longfellow)、娄威尔(James Rassel Lowell)、惠特(John Greenleaf whitter〉、爱伦·坡(Edgar Ellen Poe)、以及惠特曼(Walt Whitman)。
惠特曼的《草叶集》(Leaves of Grass)是美国十九世纪最有影响的诗歌。
美国浪漫主义时期的小说富有独创性、多样性,有华盛顿·欧文的喜剧性寓言体小说,有爱伦·坡的歌德式惊险故事,有库柏的边疆历险故事,有麦尔维尔长篇叙事,有霍桑的心理罗曼史,有戴维斯(Rebecca Harding Davis)的社会现实小说。
美国浪漫主义作家在人性的理解上也各自不同。
爱默生、梭罗等超验主义者认为人类在自然中是神圣的,因此人类是可以完善的,但霍桑和麦尔维尔则认为人们在内心上都是罪人,因此需要道德力量来改善人性。
《红字》一书就典型地反映了这个观点。
The Romantic Period(一)"识记"内容:1.The origin of Romantic American literatureThe Romantic Period, one of the most important periods in the history of American literature, stretches from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War. It started with the publication of Washington Irving's The Sketch Book and ended with Whitman's Leaves of Grass.2.The American Renaissance or Renaissance is a period of the great flowering of American literature, from the i830s roughly until the end of the American Civil War. It came of age as an expression of a national spirit. One of the most important influences in the period was that of the Transcendentalists, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau. The Transcendentalists contributed to the founding of a new national culture based on native elements. Apart from the Transcendentalists, there emerged during this period great imaginative writers ---Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman---whose novels and poetry left a permanent imprint on American literature.3.Its social historical and cultural backgroundThe development of the American society nurtured "the literature of a great nation." was flourishing into a politically, economically and culturally independent country. Historically, it was the time of westward expansion in economically, the whole nation was experiencing an industrial transformation. Politically, democracy and equa1ity became the ideal of the new nation, and the two-party system came into being. Worthy of mention is the literary and cultural life of the country. With the founding of the American Independent Government, the nation felt an urge to have its own literary expression, to make known its new experience that other nations did not have: the early Puritan settlement, the confrontation with the Indians, the frontiersmen's life, and the wild west. Besides, the nation's literary milieu was ready for the Romantic movement as we11. Thus, with a strong sense of optimism, a spectacular outburst of romantic feeling was brought about in the first ha1f of the 19th century.4.Major writers of this periodThere emerged a great host of men of letters during this period, among whom the better-known are poets such as Philip Freneau, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wordsworth Long Fellow, James Russel Lowell, John Greenleaf Whitter, Edgar Ellen Poe, and, especially, Walt Whitman, whose Leaves Of Grass established him as the most popular American poet of the 19th century. The fiction of the American Romantic period is an original and diverse body of work. It ranges from the comic fables of Washington Irving to the The Gothic tales of Edgar Allen Poe, from the frontier adventures of James Fenimore Cooper to the narrative quests of Herman Melville, from the psycho1ogical romances of Nathaniel Hawthorne to the social realism of Rebecca Harding Davis.(二).领会内容1.The impact of European Romanticism on American RomanticismForeign literary masters, especially the English counterparts exerted a stimulating impact on the writers of the new world. Born of one common cultural heritage, the American writers shared some common features with the English Romanticists. They revolted against the literary forms and ideas of the period of classicism by developing some relatively new forms of fiction or poetry.(1) They put emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature, which included a liking for the picturesque, the exotic, the sensuous, the sensational, and the supernatural.(2) The Americans also placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and disp1ayed an increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters.Heroes and heroines exhibited extremes of sensitivity and excitement.(3) The strong tendency to exalt the individual and the common man was almost a national religion in . Writers like Freneau, Bryant, and Cooper showed a great interest in external nature in their respective works.(4) The literary use of the more colorfu1 aspects of the past was also to be found in Irving's effort to exploit the legends of the Hudson River region, and in Cooper's long series of historical tales.(5) In short, American Romanticism is, in a certain way, derivative.2.The unique characteristics of American RomanticismAlthough greatly influenced by their English counterparts, the American romantic writers revealed unique characteristics of their own in their works and they grew on the native lands. For examp1e,(1) the American national experience of "pioneering into the west" proved to be a rich source of material for American writers to draw upon. They celebrated 's landscape with its virgin forests, meadows, groves, endless prairies, streams, and vast oceans. The wilderness came to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral 1aw.(2)The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature. Such a desire is particularly evident in Cooper's Leather Stocking Tales, in Thoreau's Walden and, later, in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.(3) With the growth of American national consciousness, American character types speaking local dialects appeared in poetry and fiction with increasing frequency. (4) Then the American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influences over American moral values and American Romanticism. One of the manifestations is the fact that American romantic writers tended more to moralize than their English and European counterparts. (5) Besides, a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of origina1 sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne, Melville and a host of lesser writers.(三).应用内容1. The American Puritanism and its great influence over American moral values, as is shown in American romantic writings.(1) American PuritanismPuritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. (The Puritans were originally members of a division of the Protestant Church, who came into existence in the reigns Queen Elizabeth and King James Ⅰ.The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of them Puritans. They came to out of various reasons, but it should be remembered that they were a group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious and moral principles. As the word itself hints, Puritans wanted to purify their religious beliefs and practices. They felt that the Church of England was too close to the Church of Rome in doctrine form of worship, and organization of authority.) The American Puritans, like their brothers back in , were idealists, believing that the church should be restored to complete "purity". They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God.But in the grim struggle for survival that followed immediately after their arrival in , they became more and more practical, as indeed they had to be. Puritans were noted for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that determinated their whole way of life. Puritans' lives were extremely disciplined and hard. They drove out of their settlements all those opinions that seemed dangerous to them, and history has criticized their actions. Yet in the persecution of what they considered error, the Puritans were no worse than many other movements in history. As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind and American values. American Puritanismalso had a conspicuously noticeable and an enduring influence on American literature. It had become, to some extent, so much a state of mind, so much a part of the national cultural atmosphere, rather than a set of tenets.(2) One of the manifestations is the fact that American romantic writers tended more to moralize than their English and European counterparts. Besides, a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of origina1 sin and the mystery of evil marked the works of Hawthorne, Melville and a host of lesser writers.2. New England TranscendentalismNew England Transcendentalism is the mot clearly defined Romantic literary movement in this period. It was started in the area around Concord, Mass. by a group of intellectual and the literary men of the United States such as Emerson, Henry David Thoreau who were members of an informal club, i. e. the Transcendental Club in New England in the l830s. The transcendentalists reacted against the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism in . They adhered to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation , the innate goodness of man, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths. The writings of the transcendentalists prepared the ground of their contemporaries such as Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.The main issues involved in the debate were generally philosophical, concerning nature, man and the universe. Basically, Transcendentalism has been defined philosophical1y as "the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses."Emerson once proclaimed in a speech, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Other concepts that accompanied Transcendentalism inc1ude the idea that nature is ennobling and the idea that the individual is divine and, therefore, self-re1iant.3. American Romanticists differed in their understanding of human nature.To the transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau, man is divine in nature and therefore forever perfectible; but to Hawthorne and Melville, everybody is potentially a sinner, and great moral courage is therefore indispensab1e for the improvement of human nature, as is shown in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter美国浪漫主义代表人物之一惠特曼美国浪漫主义时期是指开始于十八世纪末,到内战爆发为止这一段是美国文学史上最重要的时期。